For lack of funds: Renovation of City Council Hall comes to a halt

KMC was renovating the old building to accommodate elected councillors

KARACHI: The 83-year-old yellow, sandstone Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) building, which stands regally on MA Jinnah Road, has all of a sudden become a centre of attraction after the local government (LG) polls, as the newly-elected city council is going to run the city's affairs from there.

However, the renovation of the City Council Hall has come to a halt, mainly because of lack of funds.

The KMC, instead of constructing a new building for the city council as promised last year, is now renovating the old City Council Hall to accommodate around 209 members after the LG elections on December 5.



KMC council director Ghufran Ahmed told The Express Tribune that the renovation work has been stopped but failed to give reasons. Meanwhile, KMC technical DG Niaz Ahmed Soomro insisted that the renovation work was under way and assured that it would be completed by February 15.

Financial crunch

On the other hand, an official at KMC's finance department said that one by one all revenue-generating departments have been taken away from the KMC and handed over to the District Municipal Corporations (DMCs). Due to this reason, the official said, the KMC did not have enough funds to even renovate the council hall.



Of the Octroi Zila Tax (OZT), according to the official, KMC used to get 67 per cent and the DMCs used to get 33 per cent. However, this ratio has been reversed after the devolution of the health, education and local tax department to the DMCs. "Now KMC will get 33 per cent share in OZT and the DMCs will get 67 per cent."

"Only the development projects, which are in Annual Development Programme (ADP), can be carried out," said the official. "Had the funds for the council hall been allocated in ADP, it would have been constructed easily but the Sindh government has no interest in its construction."

KMC's financial adviser, Afaq Saeed, said the nature of the renovation work of the council house was on urgent basis and it was not the part of the Annual Development Programme (ADP). Thus, he said, the KMC had to finance the renovation from its own resources. "Currently, we don't have any money to clear the bills of such [a] project," he said, adding that they had already received a file of Rs2 million for the bill clearance of the city council and they couldn't pay it. Due to this, he said, they have written to the local government secretary and until the chief minister approves special grant, they could not finance the renovation.

He said that the KMC used to get the OZT worth Rs390 million and other grants worth Rs500 million and if added, KMC has around Rs900 million with it.

The salaries and pensions of the KMC amount to Rs1 billion, he said. “We’re already in deficit,” he said, addiing that Rs300 million KMC itself invested from the revenue generated from the land, parking and other departments, which were still part of the KMC. However, the earnings from these departments, according to him, are very minimal, which is why the KMC is completely cash-starved.

The newly-appointed local government secretary, Noor Muhammad Leghari, could not be reached for comments.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 20^th, 2016.